Fraisier (French strawberry cake)

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This classic French patisserie is a delicious assembly of 2 layers of genoa sponge filled with strawberries and crème mousseline (confectioner's custard with butter). The sponge is soaked in strawberry syrup and the cake is topped with a thin layer of marzipan.

Foie gras fingers

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An elegant canapé which consists of a crisp layer of shortcrust pastry topped with a layer of foie gras.

Ali Baba bread

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This bread is so-called because its magical sesame flavour is non-negotiable! The triple dose comes from tahini (sesame paste), sesame oil added to the dough before kneading, and toasted sesame seeds both in the dough and on top of the loaves. The texture is soft, rather like ciabatta, but with a very distinctive taste - so "open sesame" and enjoy!

Key Lime Pie for Jeremy

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Key Lime Pie is a famous speciality from the Keys region of southern Florida. This delicious tart is usually made with Key limes - a special variety. But in this simplified version, normal limes will work perfectly well.

How to poach peaches

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To poach peaches, we begin rather like for tomatoes. To peel them, we boil them for a few seconds, then plunge them into cold water. Once the skin has been removed, they are poached gently in a light syrup.

Pistachio shortbread biscuits

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These melt-in-the-mouth biscuits are "double pistachio", as they contain both pistachio paste and toasted chopped pistachios.

Avocado and smoked salmon terrine

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In this colourful terrine, layers of avocado alternate with smoked salmon and diced tomato in balsamic vinegar.

Nantes Tourton

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The "tourton Nantais" is a sweet loaf from Nantes, somewhere between bread and brioche, but without egg and only a small amount of butter.

Strawberry Charlotte

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This is a faily quick charlotte recipe. It begins, as usual, by soaking finger biscuits in syrup, in this case flavoured with lime. The charlotte is then assembled with alternate layers of Chantilly (whipped cream) and strawberries.

Ocean bread

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The idea for this bread was inspired by an amusing coincidence: the proportion of salt needed for good bread is 35 g of salt per litre of water, which just happens to be the exact concentration of salt in the Atlantic Ocean. So it's possible to make bread using sea water to provide all the salt needed, rather than normal fresh water. Not only does it work, the resulting bread is excellent!

Gnocchi alla romana

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Gnocchi are a type of pasta made with flour and potatoes or, as here, semolina. For this recipe, the gnocchi are made quite large and cooked "au gratin", topped with grated cheese.

Clear strawberry juice

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In French this is called a "clarification". The method for making a clear strawberry juice is simple, with little added sugar. The delicious juice obtained can be used in lots of recipes: mousse, cream, jelly, etc.

X-Files cookies

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These cookies made with lime and almonds are a sure-fire hit with children. They enjoy the amusing shape, of course, but also the delicious flavour.

Thin tomato jelly and avocado tart

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For this sophisticated recipe, we'll be preparing a disc of tomato jelly to sit on a puff pastry base. This is topped with slices of avocado in a lime dressing.

Brioche dough

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It's a soft and rich dough, with butter and eggs which give a smooth and incredibly tasty brioche. This is the basic recipe for brioche dough, used for all other brioche-based recipes on the site.

French croissants

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In this famous and highly technical recipe from a piece of yeast-based flaky dough we are going to cut and shape ("roll") croissants.

Ciabatta

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Ciabatta is a small, very soft Italian bread. The name means "slipper". It normally takes a long time to prepare as a special leaven called "biga" is used, but this simplified version is quicker and just as good.

Terrine of foie gras

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This simple way preparing a terrine of foie gras is ideal for beginners. In this recipe the liver is passed through a sieve or vegetable mill rather than kept in large pieces. The final appearance is smoother, less marbled, but just as delicious.

Paté en croute (terrine in a pie crust)

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The French classic "Paté en croute" is a terrine of different meats layered and baked in a pie crust. There are many recipes which vary the kind of meat and the seasonings. This is my version with pork, veal and chicken, which is not too difficult, though it does entail quite a lot of work.

Tomato and cream cheese terrine

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Tomatoes marinated in olive oil and lime, then arranged in alternating layers with cream cheese: one layer with herbs and the other with walnuts.

Films and papers in the kitchen

It's now fairly easy to find a range of papers and plastic films that are invaluable, and sometimes indispensable, kitchen aids. Here's a quick overview of the main products available, and what you can and can't do with them.
August 29^th 2023616 K 93.6

Soured dough

Underneath this strange name lies a baking secret: when you want to give a bread or pastry dough (without leaven, but with yeast) a certain percentage of fermented dough must be added, i.e. the same dough made the day before, and left to ferment overnight in the refrigerator.
August 25^th 2024157 K 24.0

Using stretch food film effectively

Maybe you use food film in your own kitchen. You know, the very thin, clear plastic stuff that you can stretch, often used to cover food and protect it from the air. It’s become so widely used that it’s now an essential item for pros. They even have a verb for it in French: “filmer”: to...
May 12^th 201825 K 14.9

The window-pane test in bread-making

The home bread-makers often ask themselves “Have I kneaded my dough long enough?” . A good question, as dough that is insufficiently kneaded will not rise properly or will fall flat when the top is slashed, which is very frustrating. To know when the dough is ready, one can rely on the length...
June 16^th 202199 K 23.9

Baking cakes

Where we see that to put a cake in the oven, once the dough is finished and in its mould, there is no hurry and that the cold is your friend.
June 28^th 201948 K4.1

Baking a cake at the right time

When you make a cake, which most likely contains butter, a cake for example, chances are that as soon as the batter is finished, you put it in the pan and bake it immediately. Classic, everyone does it like that, and then if, on top of that, you have a few kids around you who are getting...
April 18^th 202022 K4.5

The skin side of the fish first?

When it comes to cooking fresh fish, if it's filleted with its skin on and you're planning to pan-fry it in a little olive oil, for example, you might ask yourself the following question: Which side, skin or flesh, should come into contact with the pan first?
February 13^th 202128 K4.4